Greece: Strikes against privatization plans continue
More strikes are planned by Greek port workers protesting government plans to privatize container handling facilities.
Reports say strikes have been called for Tuesday and Wednesday this week (January 15–16).
Strikes last week led to clashes with Greek riot police on Friday. Police fired tear gas to disperse some 500 dock workers at the entrance to the port of Piraeus and strikers responded by throwing stones and setting rubbish bins on fire.
The series of strikes has disrupted operations at Greece's two largest ports, Piraeus and Thessaloniki.
“OLP (Piraeus port) is a profitable business. It is the cow that provides us with milk, it cannot be handed over to private or international investors,” said the head of Piraeus port's employees union George Nouhoutides.
The strikes follow an announcement by the country's new shipping minister that a global tender for operators to run Piraeus and Thessaloniki under a 30-year concession will be launched in the first half of January.
Recent reports quoted Merchant Marine Minister George Voulgarakis saying that Greece will go ahead with plans to privatize its largest commercial ports despite the strikes.
“The ports' development is a one-way street,” said Voulgarakis after meeting Piraeus city officials.
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| Strikers set things on fire |
Strikes last week led to clashes with Greek riot police on Friday. Police fired tear gas to disperse some 500 dock workers at the entrance to the port of Piraeus and strikers responded by throwing stones and setting rubbish bins on fire.
The series of strikes has disrupted operations at Greece's two largest ports, Piraeus and Thessaloniki.
“OLP (Piraeus port) is a profitable business. It is the cow that provides us with milk, it cannot be handed over to private or international investors,” said the head of Piraeus port's employees union George Nouhoutides.
The strikes follow an announcement by the country's new shipping minister that a global tender for operators to run Piraeus and Thessaloniki under a 30-year concession will be launched in the first half of January.
Recent reports quoted Merchant Marine Minister George Voulgarakis saying that Greece will go ahead with plans to privatize its largest commercial ports despite the strikes.
“The ports' development is a one-way street,” said Voulgarakis after meeting Piraeus city officials.
According to Voulgarakis, the tender would be for management contracts for two of the three container facilities at Piraeus and for the entire container terminal in Thessaloniki.
Voulgarakis added that the tenders could be decided by June.
According to a Hellenic Shipping News report, parties interested in the privatization include DP World, COSCO Pacific, Maersk (APM Terminals BV.), Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), and ZIM lines.
Cowan Thant Zin | Mon Jan 14 04:13 GMT 2008